A Bharat Jodo participant recalls what went into organising the mammoth journey on foot

In theory, my job was limited to issuing passes on day one, and then broadly supervising that Camp B was functioning smoothly. But all my expectations went out of the window within an hour!

The first problem we faced was that of space. It was anticipated that not more than 250 people would stay at Camp B. To our surprise, the first day started with 600 civil society yatris, and every day around 400 more were added! We had to scramble to arrange for food, accommodation, sanitation and medical facilities in the middle of the night. Everyone had already walked 25 kilometres that day, and it was simply not fair to tell them to go stay in motels nearby (in any case, the parts of Maharashtra we were walking through barely had guesthouses, let alone motels and hotels). Hundreds of mattresses and mobile toilets had to be trucked in within an hour from another district.

Meanwhile, we had to handle a massive, ever-growing crowd patiently and sensitively. I had five volunteers, and quickly realised I would need more Congress volunteers to help out. It was all hands on deck! The second problem was issuing passes to so many yatris and registering them on the...

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